2012 Creative Recap

It's that time of year again. Time for the annual creative recap. I knit quite a bit again this year. My design list isn't as impressive in quantity, but I certainly knit more stitches this year. Not all my projects made it onto my ravelry page, but here are the ones that did.

I knit 5 shawls, 9 pairs of socks, 2 pairs of mitts/mittens, 5 hats, 2 sweaters (one human, one dog), 1 vest, 1 cowl, and 1 brain slug. There were more scarves and hats than that, but not everything got photographed before it was gifted.

I also knit 5 more designs for The Book. Pictured here is the entire collection that has been knit so far.

And here is the last design for The Book. I've got quite a bit of knitting to go, but it is a good start.

I'd say that the biggest accomplishment this year was finishing Celestarium. Having it included in the 2012 Winter issue of Twist Collective is a huge honor. And it seems to have taken off on ravelry. There are several knit alongs scheduled for 2013. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone's project.

Well, that was my year in knits. I'm quite pleased with what got accomplished. And I'm looking forward to seeing what next year holds. 

And thanks to everyone who reads this blog. It wouldn't be the same without you guys!

Christmas Success

This year's Christmas was a success. We had the full Christmas experience complete with arguments, grumpiness, and a healthy dose of being uncomfortable out in the cold for a bit. I was the only one who made gifts this year, so I pronounced it Christmas on the 24th. I couldn't wait any longer to see everyone open their gifts. (I may have made Mum open her's a few days before.) 

Mum has taken up needle felting, so I made her a "Make Your Own Scooter" kit. It is mostly wool, but I once had washed the dog and saved some of his clean fur from his hair cut. I thought it should be part of the kit in order to make it more authentic. I even drew step by step instructions.

I made my brother a brain slug. Futurama is one of the few things we have bonded over. That and Venture Bros. Our conversations often will include a reference from either show. Usually he doesn't like gifts, but he was really into this one. Or maybe that was the brain slug talking.

Hurray for Zoidberg! 

I've made things for Dad in the past, but when I saw this Star Trek robe, I knew that I would be buying this year's gift.  It was too good not to. Here is Dad doing his best Spock impression. Mum thought this impression was a little too realistic.

It's only logical

Scooter got his gift early and has decided that he isn't really into sweaters. He has managed to stretch it out and wiggle his way out of it already. Scooter got turkey later, so his Christmas went well. 

I hope everyone's holiday has gone well. Has anyone had any gift successes or disasters this year? (Does anyone else have a dog who doesn't like sweaters?)

Parade Of Knits

Holy Moley guys. I have so many FO (finished objects) to show you it's crazy. I have no idea why I've managed to get this productive. But it doesn't even feel like work. Either that, or I've quickly forgotten how much work it all was.
Let's get started. I finished my Aestlight in a week. It's pretty. I'm having a hard time wanting to give it away like I'm suppose to. (I'll be good this time and gift it like I intended to.) I think I will be knitting myself one at some point. I did choose to do a picot border rather than the knit on border. I think it works well with this design. It was also the first time I'd done a picot border.

I also finished my Skyp socks. I had been knitting them during my lunch breaks at work. The plan was to save it for knitting at work, but with just half a foot left, I couldn't stop myself. Plus, it has been cold and I need socks.

I found myself without knitting, so I broke out the "To Knit" list and busted out a pair of Rathtrevor mitts from Jane Richmond's ISLAND book for my friend Alina. (I also had a hard time giving these away... but they were gifted today.) They are made of Stansborough Mythral. I love this yarn. It is made by the same people who wove the cloaks and other things for the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit movies. You can find some on their site. Be warned that it might feel rough to knitters who are use to knitting with Merino. The yarn is made from the Stansborough Grey sheep. But it is gorgeous. Gorgeous! Once the book is done I may have to celebrate with a sweater's worth of this yarn.

I've worked away so much stash that I am now digging into deep stash. I started a scarf using a skein I bought in New Zealand back in 2010. There is a technique were you fiddle a bunch with vareigated yarn in order to figure out how to line up the colors. I am giving it a try with this scarf. It took me 2 hours to get something that might work. We will see. The yarn is Margaret Stove Artisan NZ Merino Lace in the Ocean colorway. I'm using size 4 needles and will be knitting a feather and fan pattern from Barbara Walker's first treasury of patterns. The border will be a little weird because after the pattern repeats, I have 5 stitches left over. So one side will have 3 border stitches and the other side will have 2. Normally I would care, but it was such a pain to get this far that I no longer do.

So what am I up to now? Well, I spent all day working on the first draft of the companion piece to Celestarium. This shawl will be of the southern constellations. My chief complaint with doing Celestarium was that there is no standardization in constellations. It is my chief complaint with the upcoming shawl as well. I did my best to composite all the different interpretations of the constellations. 

And I'm still waiting on the yarn for the last book pattern. I'm mildly concerned, but I won't bug anyone until after Christmas. Plus, it gives me an excuse to knit whatever I want because, "I'm waiting for the yarn."

Scooter's Sweater

Every year I say I'm not going to do holiday knitting. And every year, a week or so before Christmas, I start feeling bad that I haven't made Scooter anything. I know what you all think; dogs don't care about knits. Well, Scooter is a dog after my own heart. He loves knits. He seeks them out. Nothing makes him happier than cuddling in something knitted. (Of course this is a problem when I'm actively knitting the thing he'd like to be sitting on.)

This is Scooter's new trick, "Wave." I'm teaching him to wave with his left and right paws on command.

Scooter has been without a sweater that fits for several years now. He has outgrown the one he has and gets upset when we put it on him. He looked a bit like a stuffed sausage when it was on. But he's 10 years old now, and I think he gets a bit colder than he used to.

There were various family theories over whether he hated sweaters or if he didn't like the one that was too small. I was on the side that felt that he would like a sweater if it fitted him. So I sunk some money and bought three skeins of Cascade 128. I knew he liked that yarn because last year's present was made of it. 

Since Scooter could care less if it is Christmas or not, I went ahead and put it on him as soon as I was done with it. He appears to like it! As he should. I measured him and custom knit it to his sizing. And I added extra leg room so he could run all he wanted without sleeves feeling funny. Here is the project's ravelry page if you want yarn and needle details.

 

He's catching a treat in this photo. It does a good job of showing the shaping I put into the chest.

There's one last thing to note. I made the sweater to match mine. Yes, that's a bit dorky, but I don't care. He's my little buddy.

"Give me the treat, human."

Chilly Nights And Wild Roads

I made the trek out to Turtle Rock again this year. There might be a storm sweeping by on the solstice, so Mum and I thought we'd go a few days before. It's always magical to see the beams of light touch the base of Turtle Rock before disappearing over the ocean. 

This evening we were treated to the moon, winking overhead. It was a cold evening. Colder than many we have had in the past. My mittens hugged my hands in the chilly air.

 Our bodies stayed warm in the car as we drove the wild roads back home.

See That Girl, She's A Knit Machine

This last month's worth of posts have all been about finished knitting. I really wish I had some adventures to talk about, but all my time has been eaten up by work (tis the season of the retail worker), The Book stuff, and gift knitting. My room is officially a designated factory zone. I finished the silk hankie sample for work. Rav page is here. It's made of two Abstract Fiber silk hankies. Colors are Smith Rock and Hopworks. If I were to keep it, I'd use it as a wide headband.

I finished my Rock Island shawl. I was ready to give it away as a present. But the more I looked at it, the harder it got to imagine it not being with me. So I'm keeping it.

It has more to do with who gave me the yarn than being a greedy knitter. Also, I had plenty of yarn left over. Even though the shawl is knit from the bottom-up and each row gets shorter, I was sure I was going to be short until I was 10 rows from the end. I did take AC's advice and knit it faster. Because, as all knitters know, if you knit faster, you won't run out of yarn.

I bought a skein of Fyberspates Scrumptious Lace in Purple to make a replacement gift. It will be a different pattern, which I'll stay silent on for now. I'm waiting on some beads to show up on my doorstep before I cast on.

So in the meantime I've cast on a different gift knit. The yarn is Curious Creek Fibers Wasonga in the Emerald City colorway. It's a shawl. But again, I'll keep quiet about the specifics on the blog for now.

In other news, I've ordered yarn for the last pattern for The Book. I spent quite a bit of time on Wednesday making different charts for different sizes. I'll be measuring my brother, who will be modeling, when he comes home in a few days. All going well, knitting will commence in the next week or so. Just call me the knit machine. (For some reason, I have the ABBA tune Dancing Queen in my head when I see the words Knit Machine.)

Please Mr. Postman

Mr. Postman came today with some goodies I'd ordered. After seeing this Doctor Who project bag by Bag End Bags on etsy, I couldn't resist. I'm usually good about not impulse buying, but the inside had star fabric. When I knit up the southern constellation shawl, it will be living in the bag. The shawl is going to pretty big. And I'm sure as some of you might guess, the bag is bigger on the inside. My copy of Island by Jane Richmond also came. It is well laid out and plain old gorgeous. I've already made Renfrew. (Not today. I got the digital download a few weeks ago.)

I thought I had blogged about this already, but apparently not. I made it out of Knitwhits Freia Handpaints Freia Ombré Worsted in the Denim colorway. It is the nicest single ply yarn I have ever worked with. It was tightly spun without being kinky. And it felt really good in my hands. I will be getting more as soon as I have a project to go along with it. One ball was enough for the slouchy version of Renfrew. (Which, by the way, is an excellent hat pattern.) 

Last night I attended a baby shower. The gifts were a big hit. I made adult and baby Elven Hero hats out of Rimu. The rav project page can be found here. It includes the modifications made for the baby hat. That baby is going to have some great adventures.

I actually have two more finished objects, but I'm starting to feel like a show off. That and they are items that have yet to be gifted. They'll show up on the blog in the coming month or so, but if you are super curious, everything is on my ravelry project page.

Knitting Like The World Is About To End

Well, my Rock Island is growing at an alarming rate. Last night I knit 2/3 of the middle lace section. Once I got a rhythm, it was hard to stop. We've all been there. Every time I finished a row I would say to myself, "Well, maybe I'll go to bed after this LAST row." Followed by, "I can't leave it on a wrong side row. I might not know where I left off."

I've turned the heel on my second Skyp sock. I see a warm pair of socks in my near future. And a reason to buy more skeins of Blue Moon's Socks That Rock Lightweight. The Tlingit and Carbon colorways are currently catching my eye. But I'm really looking forward to seeing the Blue Moon booth at Stitches West and picking out skeins in person. I really must make a list this year. Last year I didn't and ended up with all sorts of yarn. And roving. And books.

I've got a successful swatch for my last knit for The Book. Hurray! Of course I can only show you the back of the swatch for now. But I'm excited about this last project. It is coming out as good as I had hoped it would... so far. Hopefully the garment comes out as well as the swatches.

There isn't a good sense of scale in this photo. That swatch is 10.5 x 7.5 inches. It's practically a sweater all on its own.

Just look at all that knitting accomplished in the last few days. It's like I just sit around all day and knit. Oh wait....

Maelstrom Of Rock Island

I now have a maelstrom of lace. The Rock Island edging is finally finished and I spent the afternoon picking up the edging and knitting the beginning of the body of the shawl. I'm embarrassed to admit, despite my knitting experience, I might run out of yarn. It seems to be disappearing a bit faster than I'd like. I do have a backup plan. I'll just bind off the shawl when I run out of yarn and it will just have a triangular divot.... you know, to fit the neck better.

I finished the first Skyp sock as well. It's lovely. Only after I finished this sock did I notice that Claire has released a sock pattern related to Puck called "Lord, What Fools." This yarn, colorway Puck's Mischief, would have be so appropriate. But I suppose Puck is so mischievous he decided he wanted to be a Skyp sock instead.

I've started a new project as well. I'm making a shop sample of the silk hankie cowl after participating in a workshop lead by Susan Stambaugh of Abstract Fiber. Knitting with mawata (silk hankies) is an interesting technique and I'm glad to have learned it. The red hankie colorway is Smith Rock. The more brown one is Hopworks.

As for the Rimu I bought last week. It's already been knit up into a secret baby shower gift. I'll be gifting it on Sunday, so I'll hold off on pictures just in case the recipient is spying on this blog.